CPTnet
November 29, 2001
Hebron Update: November 12-18, 2001

Monday, November 12 -- No curfew.

When they went on morning patrol, CPTers Mary Lawrence and Claire Evans
noticed five Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers preventing Israeli
settler girls and boys from throwing
stones at Palestinian teachers and students on their way to the Qurtuba
girls' school. Near Gross Square, CPTer Rich Meyer observed that soldiers
were trying to prevent settler children from stoning the vehicle of the
Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). The team noted the
marked change in the soldiers' role in controlling stone-throwing of the
settler youth and wondered if it indicated a change of IDF policy.

About 11:30am, CPTers Anita Fast and Benno Barg, along with a Palestinian
journalist, were walking through the Old City near Avraham Avinu. They saw
an old Palestinian woman who could hardly walk being prevented from passing
through an area that was cut off by barbed wire. The woman, along with a
young woman and two children, was pleading with the soldier to let her pass
because the blocked route was the shortest way to the doctor. The old woman
removed her sock and revealed a swollen, red foot. The soldier told her she
must "go another way."

While the woman was waiting, several Palestinian men and women came to the
same area to enter the Old City. They were employees of the Hebron
Rehabilitation Committee who had been forced out of their offices by Israeli
soldiers two hours earlier and told they would be able to return at this
time. Soldiers still prevented them from entering. The group eventually
dispersed. Shortly after that an IDF officer allowed the old woman and her
companions to pass on her way to the doctor.

As Fast, Barg, and the Palestinian journalist were returning to the CPT
apartment, they saw an old man sitting in front of Avraham Avinu rubbing his
ankle. He said it had been hit twice by large stones thrown by a male
settler youth. Israeli police arrived and the man went to talk with them.

Meyer, Barg, and teammate Rick Polhamus traveled to the Al Sendas area to
meet with a Palestinian family who is part of CPT's "Campaign for Secure
Dwellings" (CSD) project.

Tuesday, November 13 No curfew.

Over the weekend CPT received written communication from the Israeli police.
It said that they are closing the case that Kathleen Kern brought on
September 6, 2001, having found the
accused not guilty. (See Sept. 6 release "CPTers Anne Montgomery and
Kathleen Kern attacked by mob of settler boys.")

Meyer and teammate JoAnne Lingle visited CSD families in the village of Beit
Ummar, north of Hebron.

Wednesday, November 14 No curfew.

Police at the Kiryat Arba station called to say that the case brought by
Angie Zelter on August 29 was going to court. Zelter, who is from the United
Kingdom, was attacked by a settler
man while visiting CPT in Hebron (See August 30 release "Settler attacks
guest of Hebron team.")

At 11:00am, Fast and Barg observed five Israeli soldiers detaining six
Palestinian men against a wall in a spread-eagle position in the back
entrance of the market near Avraham Avinu settlement. This area has been
declared a closed military zone. Two of the Palestinians appeared to be
young teenagers. One soldier was holding the flame of a lighter close to
one of the youth's hands. Upon seeing the CPTers, he put the lighter away.
The men were being detained for an identification check. They were allowed
to leave within a few minutes of the CPTers arrival.

Fast, Barg, the team's translator, and two visitors from Mennonite Central
Committee traveled to the Beqa'a Valley east of Hebron to visit families
there. The roads were closed so they walked most of the 2 miles there.

While returning to Hebron from meetings in Bethlehem, Lingle and Lawrence
planned to stop to deliver a package to a family in Beit Ummar. Their taxi
was stopped near the Gush Etzion settlement. The two CPTers and Palestinian
passengers were ordered off the road and walked about 100 feet behind barbed
wire through a makeshift checkpoint. Lingle asked a soldier at the
checkpoint, "Why are you doing this?" He replied that it was necessary
"for security."

The CPTers then waited for another taxi, which was halted
by a roadblock at the Arroub refugee camp. They continued by foot another
half-mile to the Palestinian family they were visiting in Beit Ummar.

At the family's home, Lawrence and Lingle were told that no Palestinians had
been allowed to be on the road between 6:00 and 10:00 that morning.
Soldiers reportedly shot tear gas at those who did. The CPTers then went to
visit another friend in Beit Ummar, who told them that soldiers had been
shooting that morning from the roof of the house next to hers.

Lawrence and Lingle walked back to the Beit Ummar junction. There they
learned that no Palestinian vehicles were allowed through travel on Road 60,
the main road. Soldiers ordered everyone off the road at the junction and
instructed them to walk over a dirt roadblock then down a steep incline back
to the Road 60. They were then ordered to retrace their steps, when
soldiers began shooting above the group of people in response to Palestinian
youth who were throwing stones at the soldiers. Lingle and Lawrence
continued walking another 1 1/2 miles on to Hahoul before catching a taxi to
Hebron.

Friday, November 16 No curfew. 1st day of Ramadan.

In Jerusalem, Polhamus saw hundreds of police and soldiers at all the gates
to the Old City, especially at Damascus Gate. Newspaper reports said about
100,000 Muslims prayed at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque on the first day of
the holy month of Ramadan. However, many others were turned away, as police
and soldiers prevented most men ages 16-30 from entering the Old City.

Back in Hebron, CPTers noted that Palestinians were being detained for
identification checks despite a report that some military restrictions were
being eased during Ramadan. Clausen and Evans noted an adult male settler
looking over the shoulders of soldiers in the "closed military zone" by
Avraham Avinu as they performed identification checks.

Sunday, November 18 No curfew. 3rd day of Ramadan.

CPTers traveling to church in Jerusalem experienced no delays at
checkpoints. Friends of the team approached Polhamus in the market and gave
him a Ramadan gift of bread and hummus.